#MyCOVIDStory - Covid Survivor

Indians are battling with 2nd wave of Coronavirus and it has impacted most of the Indians either directly or indirectly. I knew 2nd wave will come but I didn't knew it will be this much devastating. I remember going on a trip with family in January and was going out regularly in February and March. In April first week, I have even travelled by train to Bangalore as the cases were constantly rising. That exponential rise marked the arrival of 2nd wave in India.

I travelled to Bangalore because my house was closed for more than 12 months and thus I had to check if everything was ok there. After staying for 3 weeks in Bangalore, I then travelled to Rajasthan as my brother-in-law's marriage was going to happen on 30th April. I remember taking extra precautions in airport by doubling up the masks, keeping face shield at all times. I even had my RT-PCR negative certificate as it was mandatory to enter in Rajasthan.

I travelled to Jaipur then Churu (district in Rajasthan) on 17th April, and on next day I came to know my Uncle expired. He was recovering from paralysis attack and no 18th April, he took the Covid vaccination. He got Heart Attack, we were not sure is it because of the vaccine or anything else, but still I would have recommended him of not taking it until he would have fully recovered. So on 19th April morning I had to travel from Churu to Jaipur again and thus after doing the Cremation and completing his final rites I came back to Churu on the same day.

I was working from home the rest of the week and then I have taken the next week off i.e. from 26th April. As from that day the marriage ceremony had started. One thing was there that everyone was following the covid guidelines and was wearing masks always. Though there were not many people and only family members were present.

After the marriage, on 2nd May I started getting body ache, throat pain and fever. We initially thought it would have been a flu or it might be because of the tiredness of marriage. But we did not taken any chances and my medication has started on 3rd May itself. My wife's cousin was a Covid doctor in AIIMS Delhi. We checked with him and then he suggested the following medicines to me along with that Steam inhalation, hot water gargle and isolation.

1. Tab Azee 500 mg once a day for 5 days
2. Cap Pantocid dsr once a day empty stomach for 1 week
3. Tab Calpol 650 sos ( for fever / bodyache/ headache)
4. Tab Zinconia 50 mg once a day for 2 weeks
5. Tab Limcee 500 mg twice a day for 2 weeks
6. Cap Uprise d-3 60 k once a week
7. Tab Allegra 120 mg once at night for 1 week
8. Syp Rapitus 2 teaspoon twice a day For 1 week
9. Cap Doxy 100 mg twice a day for 3 days
10. Tab Scavista ( ivermectin) 12 mg once a day ( 2 hours after food ) for 3 days

Steam inhalation
Saline gargles
Isolation at home

I have started the medicine from 3rd May and the fever was there for two days 3rd May and 4th May. When on 5th May I did not got the fever then we thought it would have been a flu itself. So I came out from isolation but was wearing the masks as at times so that no one else gets affected.

But again on 6th May I got the fever, so we were almost certain that it will be a Covid itself. On the same day we went to a doctor and he asked us to do some test like X-Ray, Blood Sugar, CRP, UREA etc.

The test came normal except the CRP where the normal value should be around 0-6 but for me it was 15.45.

The doctor then asked us to go for RT PCR test and CT Scan after seeing the CRP level. Along with that he has given us almost the same medicine which I was already taking.

We could not do the RT PCR test as the government hospital for covid test was closed for the day and none of the private labs were doing the test. After seeing the CRP level, the doctor which has prescribed me medicine was 100% sure that it was Covid though it was mild and can be treated at home. He also asked to get the oxymeter to check the oxygen level 4 times a day along with fever.

I have taken the medicine next four days where my oxygen level was around 93-94 and the fever was around 101 - 102. I was taking paracetamol 3 times a day but the fever was keep coming back. The throat was paining like anything but the Betadine Gargle helped big time to reduce the pain.

I was weak though I used to walk 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the evening. I was positive most of the time thinking that since it is a mild one I will be fully recovered in some days. But there were times were I was like might be this is the end. I used to tell my wife that I have taken the term insurance so you can use it whenever required. My wife was positive all the times, at least in front of me. She was like nurse to me, where she made sure that I should not miss a single dose of medicine, she was giving me steam inhalation 3 times a day, along with gargle 3 times a day.

Those 4 days were the most challenging one where I was sleeping for almost 15-16 hours. I started getting Dexona injection, which was Steroid as my fever was not going away. On 10th May we again went to do the CRP test and thus at that day it was around 19. So on the same day we went to do the RT-PCR test. The test result came on 12th May that I am Covid positive, though we knew about it.

On 12th May we went to do CT SCAN as my oxygen level was hovering over 93. Though I was not feeling any breathlessness, but still the doctor advised us to do it anyway. As CT SCAN was one of the method to know your lungs damage, there were 100s of people relying on CT SCAN to know how much lungs have affected. So we had to go the hospital in the morning 7'o clock get the token and wait for 9:30. I was seating in the park the whole time.

The test was done and the result came where the Severity Score was 06, that means my lungs was affected but not too much. And that's why my oxygen level was hovering around 93-94.

Since I was taking the steroid injection, the fever was not coming and thus the road to recovery has started. So my doctor has given me new set of medicines.

Now as of writing, I am fully recovered and I have completed my medications on 26th May. I started walking around 1 hour daily along with that my oxygen level is 98. I started working too, though first 3-4 days my head was paining after working for more than 6 hours. So I started slowly, without taking too much work, conveyed the same thing to my manager.

So some of the takeaways are:

1. Covid can happen to anyone, even after taking too much precautions. If you do not want to get covid then do not go out of your home.
2. I am not sure how and when I got the virus, because none of my family members or none of the people who came to the marriage got affected. Though even after person getting affected, if we take precautions at home you can save your family members.
3. Do not take it lightly, it can become mild to severe at any day, you have to take your medicines regularly, have good food and do check your oxygen and temperature 3-4 times a day.
4. You can recover at home and thus you have to be positive most of the time. I have said most of the time because I know you will surely get negative thoughts. Its all about how quickly you can switch your negative thoughts to positive one. Take your medication on time.
5. Talk to your family member, I used to talk to my mom everyday 30 minutes and to my wife 30 minutes on phone. It actually helps you to keep yourself positive as well as it will help you to recover faster at least it happened for me.
6. If you get covid, do not take vaccine for 3 months.
7. There is Black, White and Yellow Fungus infections are on the rise for covid positive patients, so do not take medications yourself, do consult your doctor if you have covid.

This is my covid story for the @theycallmedan initiative.